Tv as a Shaper

TV as a Shaper I agree that television shows influences our behaviors even without our knowledge of it. Although television seems like a great thing to have, it has many drawbacks. Television can have negative impacts on people, especially kids. People learn new skills by observing, then utilizing it, such as when we were kids and learn to walk by seeing our family walking around or learning a new subject in school. Therefore, when watching television it may influence our fundamental social dispositions; no matter if it is good or bad. Almost ninety nice percent of households possess one television. Television is today’s source of news, stories, legends, and characters from previous centuries; the reason why it is so influential. However, only “0.7 percent is used for public service announcements and news”(Sex, violence, profanity...). The other 97.3 % consists of television shows with violence, crime, advertisements and mainstream blandness. Many studies and research has been done to demonstrate that heavy television viewing may lead to serious health consequences. Television is great for entertainment but has grown into a major problem. Violence has become a major part of television shows increasing regularly. Many may think that it is only the shows that get the warning “viewer discretion is advised” are bad influences on people but I believe that all shows can have a negative influence. For example, in the 90’s cartoon show Spiderman, all he ever did was tie villains up with his webs. In today’s cartoon he hits them and draws blood when fighting the villains. As innocent as cartoon shows may seem I have seen the increase in violence in these shows. Children, especially young, are not ready to distinguish right from wrong so when their favorite action hero is beating up a bad guy, therefore kids get the impression that it is all right to do the same. Witnessing repeated violent acts can lead to desensitization and lack of empathy for human suffering, “Statistics show that television alone is responsible for 10% of youth violence”(Sex, violence, profanity... ). Violence and crime are natural occurrences since viewers are fascinated by the dangers and surprises followed by crime. On television the amount of crime portrayed is increasing. Crime happens in almost ninety percent of the time with characters showing remorse but then living on as if nothing has happened. Characters justify their actions with very good reasons but that does not make it okay for person to commit those actions. Also since he is the main character, bad things happen to him but he still completes his original goal of making money. For example in breaking bad Walter White, the main character, is diagnosed with cancer so he becomes a drug dealer in order to make a large sum of money for his family before he passes away. He sells drugs and commits murders while he does this showing remorse but never getting out of the drug business. This has negative impacts on the youths since youths are so impressionable. Almost every episode is involved with crime, and dealing drugs. That is besides the fact, the main reason these type of shows may have negative impacts is that the directors make it look fun and cool to be living as a drug lord. Crime has increased drastically in television shows with “crime at least 10 times more frequent on the screen that in life”(Reed). This may cause heavy viewers to be more anxious and scared of reality. For example, some people are scared to go through dark alleyways or paths at night because on television, almost every time a character is portrayed in that situation, a crime happens whether it may be a murder, a beating, or a robbery. Television gives people a mindset that is different to what reality really is, “Dr.Gerbner believes this stems from commercial TV’s mass mobiliziation of consumption. As a temple devoted to the glorification of instant gratification”(Reed). This makes television a method of finding solutions to material desires. The mainstream blandness on television makes us feel we are under limitations. Mainstream reality makes heavy viewers have a conservative opinion or outlook on life. For instance, in the show criminal minds every episode has at least one person dying by the hands of a serial killer before the Behavior Analysis Unit catches the killer. Heavy viewer of this show may be more paranoid to go out at night or even be afraid at home due to the fact that they think that there may be a serial killer lying in wait. The persuasiveness of television is very immense. Everyone that has watched a scary movie or show persuaded to believe in the impossible whether they like it or not. Remember when you were a young child watching your first scary movie with ghosts or monsters involved? You would check under your bed, in your closet or any dark places in your room before you were able to sleep. This shows that television does have a great impact on our mindset and views whether we know it or not. Television is a just form of entertainment; you should not base your life upon the events and characters portrayed. The people seen on television are just actors but many do not see it this way, looking up to the characters they like the most on the show. Characters are portrayed in apparent realism but bear little relation to their real life counterparts. For instance Miley Cyrus is a good girl teenage pop star in her show, Hannah Montana. However in reality she is doing many negative things such as hard drugs, partying, drinking, dancing almost completely naked on stage giving a negative influence for her fans. This influences her fans to think that all those negative things she is doing are alright since they admire her on her television show. There are countless television shows that can have a negative impact on people, especially youths. Not only that the shows on television portray drinking, smoking, sex and partying as some of the best things in life – especially in comedy shows - which causes kids to ‘try’ it as well. For example, in the comedy show How I met Your Mother, the main characters are seen constantly drinking at a bar, and trying to pick up girls to have sex. They portray these things as minor things in life but in reality, they can have very serious consequences. Drinking every night when you are adult may be fine, but when you are a child or teenager still growing it has very negative effects on your body. However, heavy viewers will not take into account that “eating, drinking, or talking about food occur nine times an hour in peak time, yet characters almost always remain sober – and slim”(Reed). This influences uneducated people as well as educated people to do the same, not realizing the real life effects that eating and drinking all the time is very unhealthy. Television is a good way to pass the time but we need to be aware of the dangers it can cause us as viewers. Television constantly bombards us with advertisements and media influencing us to buy materials solve our problems. Television shows are a form of entertainment as well as a means for money so the message and events in most television shows can persuade us to do negative things. We go to our television for so many things such as the news, the weather, music, celebrity gossip, entertainment; how can you not be influenced? Well in my opinion, all we need to do is watch our shows to pass the time and for enjoyment but do not take it seriously because television is like an illusion. We think it is real but it is not.